A new addition to the world of classical music streaming has been announced, and this time it’s a rich catalogue of early music that awaits online viewers.

Early Music Television is the creation of the Utrecht Early Music Festival, and at launch already boasts 175 concerts, documentaries and lectures dating back to 2018 when the festival first started filming concerts, as well as access to live-stream events. Monthly new releases will be added, and from next year it will also offer concerts by partner organisations – the aim is to have more than 700 titles available to watch by five years’ time.

Duo Serenissima - Elisabeth Hetherington and David Mackor - recording a recital, available on EMTV (photo: Foppe Schut)

Subscribers can already find concerts from Gramophone Award-winners Vox Luminis, viola da gamba player Lucile Boulanger (who features in our current issue's Artist and their Instrument), Richard Egarr offering a harpsichord recital of Purcell and Blow, and Decca-signed recorder player Lucie Horsch. Programmes are searchable by era – Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque – or genre, such as vocal, instrumental or documentary.

Like many online initiatives, the idea emerged from the pandemic. 'For a long time now it has not been possible to receive large groups of people in a concert hall,’ said Festival director Xavier Vandamme. ‘At the same time, we see that our online activities can rely on enormous international interest and that the need for culture has not diminished. That's why we developed EMTV.

‘In the future, the Early Music Festival and Season will both have a hybrid format, with performances given in the concert hall, but always with an online component. Moreover, with EMTV we can reach an even larger international audience, make people enthusiastic about early music, and create a new source of income.’

Subscriptions cost €7.99 per month or €90 per year. For more information, visit oudemuziek.nl/emtv